Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of court trials for (a) rape, (b) sexual assault, (c) violence against a person, (d) murder, (e) theft, (f) possession of weapons and (g) fraud have been delayed each year since 2010.

We have interpreted your request as being for ineffective trials, which is where the trial does not commence on the due date and requires rescheduling. This could be due to a variety of reasons, such as the absence of a defendant or a witness or adjournment requests from either the prosecution or defence.

The tables attached set out the data held by the Ministry of Justice on ineffective trials for each offence type, in volume and against the total listed trials for that offence type.

Crown Court data is available from 2014 onwards.

The Covid-19 pandemic affected the Crown Courts’ ability to effectively list trials. The ineffective trial rate notably increased in 2020, primarily due to increases in defendant illness or absence, and overlisting (55% of all ineffective trials were for these reasons combined).

Across 2022, the proportion of ineffective trials in the Crown Court for all offences increased significantly as a result of the impact of the Criminal Bar Assocation (CBA) action.

‘Lack of defence advocate availability’ was the largest reason for all ineffective trials throughout 2022 (35%) and accounted for 22% (484 trials) in Q4 2022 once CBA action had ended, down from 67% (2,498 trials) in the previous quarter recorded during the barristers’ strikes. The CBA action ended in October 2022.